Guardiola Drops Iheanacho to Manchester City B-List in the Champions League

Guardiola Drops Iheanacho to Manchester City B-List in the Champions League

Nigeria striker Kelechi Iheanacho is fast coming to terms with the flip side of being a star footballer as he’s been dropped by Manchester City to the B-list of the UEFA Champions League.

After a fairly decent start to life under new manager Pep Guardiola, Iheanacho has since been left on the fringes as the Etihad outfit grappled with form beginning from the close of 2016.

His situation got worse following the arrival of hot shot Brazil attacker Gabriel Jesus in January, as the Nigerian international now barely makes the matchday squad.

Amid growing uncertainty over is future, Guardiola has decided to leave him out of the team’s 21-man squad for the UEFA Champions League knockout phase, Africanfootball.com writes.

Iheanacho, who scored the team’s last group stage goal in a 1-1 draw with Celtic at the Etihad, has been registered as a B-List player by the club.

The B-list is made up of players who have been part of a club for at least two years and are born in 1995 or later, basically the Academy kids.

Though UEFA rules allow clubs to call on B-List players if need be, the decision to downgrade him is a clear indication of where the club is now headed.

Manchester City take on French giants AS Monaco in the Last 16 of the competition later this month.